Heart valve diseases are affecting approximately 300,000 people worldwide each year. Those diseases translate in abnormal leaflet tissue (excess tissue growth, tissue degradation/rupture, tissue hardening/calcifying), or abnormal tissue position through the cardiac cycle (i.e. annular dilation, ventricular reshaping) leading to a degrading valve function like leakage/blood backflow (valve insufficiency) or a resistance to blood forward flow (valve stenosis).
Those diseases can be treated mostly by a surgical approach on a stopped heart requiring the use of a heart lung machine and in many cases by an invasive procedure. Some patients due to their general health status may be at higher risk or even contra-indicated for open heart surgery and may benefit from a treatment on a beating heart by catheter techniques.
Accordingly, a treatment catheter system, which allows interaction with tissue on a beating heart, is desirable.